This invention relates to the field of magnetic storage drives and more specifically to testing of high-density platters for magnetic storage drives.
Hard drives have revolutionized the storage of data. The amount of data stored electronically continues to increase dramatically: Data that was once stored on paper and filed away in boxes, shelves, folders, and cabinets are now, more likely than not, stored on a hard drive. The amount of data that is stored and continuing to be stored on hard drives is daunting.
Some examples of data that may be stored on hard drives include business information (e.g., financial reports and figures, budgets, marketing research, employee information, strategies, manufacturing processes), personal information (e.g., vacation pictures and videos, songs), academic research (e.g., medical findings, clinical studies), books, and movies just to name a few examples. The stored data ranges from the trivial (e.g., a person's grocery list) to the most sensitive and critical (e.g., state secrets, nuclear weapon design).
Hard drives can be found not just in computers, but also in music players (e.g., MP3 player), digital video recorders (e.g, DVR or PVR), television sets, and even cars. Millions of hard drives continue to be produced each year.
There is continuing demand for hard drives that store greater amounts of data in the same space (i.e., higher density storage), are cheaper, and that are more reliable.
Therefore, there is a need for improved testing systems and techniques for hard drive testing.